The Philomath High School volleyball team’s season ended Saturday at Crook County in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs. The third-seeded Cowgirls took a victory in three sets, 25-13, 25-14 and 25-16.
PHS coach Whitney Rasmussen, who just wrapped up her first season in charge of the program, said Crook County put a tough hitting and serving squad on the floor. The Cowgirls opened the match with a scoring run and although Philomath battled back to within a few points of the lead on a few occasions, the home team was able to close it out.
In the second set, Philomath led 7-4 in the early going before Crook County got on a roll, tying the set at 10-10 on a sideout. From that point, the Cowgirls outscored the Warriors 15-4 to go up 2-0 in the match.
Philomath also had an early lead in the third set but Crook County came back and ended up with a nine-point win in the set to take the match.
“I’m incredibly proud of this team for never giving up or quitting,” Rasmussen said. “We overcame many injuries and illnesses all season and every time they came out the other side proving they could persevere.”
PHS junior Shaylee May led all hitters with 11 kills with sophomore Nora Stanley adding five. Senior setter Ashleigh Brown finished with 16 assists. At the service line, May and Brown each had two aces.
The Oregon West Conference champion Warriors finish the season with an overall record of 9-13.
Crook County (23-6) moves on to the state tournament at North Bend High School for a quarterfinals match against sixth-seeded The Dalles. Two teams out of the Oregon West advanced to the tournament as well with ninth-seeded Cascade facing top-seeded Marshfield and 12th-seeded Stayton facing fourth-seeded Pendleton.
Philomath will lose six players to graduation. In addition to Brown, other seniors on the roster included Kynlee Albin, Hannah Bennett, Zoee Howard, Madison Provance and Olivia Rice.
“Every single player contributed positively this season and even more importantly, they are all amazing human beings,” Rasmussen said. “Each of them has an amazing future ahead of them and I’m looking forward to seeing all of their successes on and off the court.”
